Archives, eh
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# Prove it
Reasonably sure my remarks about David Hicks are enough to inform the non-casual reader as to what I might think about the move by Kevin Andres to revoke a visa for the sake of locking up a terror suspect who had made bail.
In case it isn’t, it basically goes like this. The letter of the law may very well give the Minister the power to revoke a visa based on character issues, but without some standard of proof being applied what the Minister has done – in this case and potentially in the future – smells suspiciously like executive rule.
Not tyranny or totalitarianism as suggested by some of the more excitable blogs I read i, just a member of the Executive deciding – based on advise from the Federal Police and the civil service – using a power for which there is no functional oversight – I suppose the PM could overrule him – and for which he can provide no proof to back his usage.
Is it too much to ask that that the Minister be able to respond coherently when asked to “prove it”?
Recklessly provided material assistance to terrorists? Prove it.
Associated in some meaningful manner with terrorists? Prove it.
Not of good character? Prove it.
A flight risk? Prove it.
Actually, that last one is a trick – the Federal Police already failed to prove that one.
i I think it is fair to say that if Kevin Andrews is the face of totalitarianism then it will be a lot blander than we all expected. And am I the only one to be unsure whether or not he is a Muppet?
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# My inevitable thoughts
I tried to refuse to acknowledge the tinned asparagus stalk flogging I – and specifically my ilk – were receiving from triumphalist pro-tyranny bloggers and media commentators, but…well…I figured it doesn’t count as feeding the troll when you put the food in a sealed lead box in the bottom of the deepest cave on Quaoar
So.
Yes, you all were right. David Hicks is not some sainted guy who fell in with a bad crowd. In fact, he is a grub. He is reprehensible. I’d like it if he wasn’t even Australian and no only would I not have a beer with him, I’d make it my life’s goal to have him shunned and ostracised from any drinking establishment I have ever visited in the course of my life.
I wouldn’t piss on the guy if he was on fire.
He didn’t break any laws though.
